Depends On the Context
About
Depends on the Context is a quote taken from a Yik Yak post in which a person responds to the question "Is 4 a lot?" with "Depends on the context. Dollars, no. Murders, yes." The quote first saw spread on Tumblr in fan posts in which users imagined two characters saying the dialogue. In May of 2019, it was posted in a similar manner on a Doctor Who parody Instagram account, depicting the dialogue taking place between the Doctor and the character Clara Oswald. After that image was reposted to Reddit, it became an exploitable and snowclone, as people changed the characters in the image and the dialogue.
Origin
On April 13th, 2016, Tumblr user rightbychoice[1] posted a screenshot of a question and answer from anonymous message board Yik Yak, gaining over 266,000 notes (shown below).
Precursor
On November 29th, 2013, Redditor Uvulator published the eraliest known version of the meme in the /r/shittyaskscience[11] subreddit. The post received more than 1,300 points (96% upvoted) and 175 comments.
Spread
The screenshot of the Yik Yak post grew popular through social media, appearing on the Facebook page Humans of Tumblr[2] on May 24th, 2016, gaining over 11,000 likes and reactions and an Imgur post[3] that gained over 18,000 views and 1,500 points.[3] Over the following three years, the post saw use on Tumblr in mock conversation posts where users imagined the dialogue playing out between two fictional characters. Some popular examples of this include a post by incorrectmysticmessenger[4] which gained over 1,600 notes (shown below, left) and a post by domestic-bands[5] which imagined the conversation happening between members of rock band My Chemical Romance, gaining over 1,100 notes (shown below, right).
Doctor Who Exploitable
On May 26th, 2019, Instagram account incorrectwhoquotes,[6] a fan account parodying Doctor Who, used the quote in an image macro imagining the twelfth Doctor having the conversation with Clara Oswald. The post gained over 6,400 likes (shown below).
On June 12th, the image was reposted to /r/funny[7] by user PoliticalHumorn, gaining over 68,000 points. It was posted in /r/MemeEconomy[8] that day, gaining over 100 points. Over the following several days, it was used as an exploitable and snowclone as people changed the characters and dialogue in edits. For example, on June 14th, Redditor Crazed4Tech posted a Stonks edit in /r/dankmemes,[9] gaining over 50,000 points (shown below, left). Another posted June 15th in /r/dankmemes[10] by julian_mac gained over 30,000 points (shown below, right).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Tumblr – rightbychoice
[2] Facebook – Humans of Tumblr
[3] Imgur – Not a dump. More like a wet fart
[4] Tumblr – incorrectmysticmessenger
[5] Tumblr – domestic-bands
[6] Instagram – incorrectwhoquotes
[7] Reddit – Its all about PERSPECTIVE!
[8] Reddit – New meme! Invest!
[10] Reddit – How Long Will It Last
[11] Reddit – /r/shittyaskscience
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